The 18-year-old from Abram-Village, who has battled injuries and a serious health issue in recent months, was the overall winner of the second annual Hugh A. Campbell Memorial Run on Wednesday night. His time in the five-mile run was 28 minutes 54 seconds (28:54).

“Today wasn’t a personal best for me, but it was definitely a harder course,” said Cyr. “The other 8K I ran was on the boardwalk in Summerside.

“Today was up and down hill and I was about a minute slower, so I was pretty happy with it overall.”

It’s been a rough few months for the well-spoken Cyr, who will enter his second year in the human kinetics program at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., in September. Along with dealing with the injury bug, Cyr explained he was diagnosed with low iron in April.

“That pretty much put a fork into my training, and running was not going well,” he said. “Since April I have been on pills and some IV and pretty much everything, and it’s crazy how much it has gone up.

“I think I will be ready for (university) cross-country season coming up, and my mileage is increasing and my performance is getting much better. It’s motivating.”

“One of the reasons I go to these road races is to meet the people,” said Cyr. “Sean knows so much about running, he has been around for quite a long time. It’s nice to get to know guys like that.”

Cyr and Williams, 46, ran together for about the first four kilometres, before the Evangeline School graduate pulled away. Cyr described the course as flat at the start, but added the last two kilometres were a tough uphill climb.

Cyr said he does not talk much to fellow runners during races as he’s focusing on breathing properly, but added he and Williams had a good post-race chat.

“We cooled down together, and I got to know him pretty well,” said Cyr. “Just talking to people like that and racing with him (Williams) was a huge experience.”